Corona Program
Known to the public as a scientific program called Discoverer, the Corona project actually launched the United States' first spy satellites. These spacecraft included cameras and film buckets that were retrieved by Air Force planes mid-air on their return back to earth.
Click through the image carousel to see images of a Corona satellite at the National Air and Space Museum.
When were the Corona satellites first launched?
The first Corona satellite was launched in 1960. The program continued until May 1972, and the satellites took over 800,000 photographs. The Corona missions were a key part of gathering intelligence during the Cold War, a period of high tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.
What was the Corona program's mission?
During the Cold War, the United States used the Corona satellites to take detailed pictures of the the Soviet Union from Space. These pictures were used to monitor the Soviet Union's missile launch sites and production facilities.
What did the Corona program tell us about the world around us?
Images from the Corona Program were used to analyze Soviet missile production and test sites. But, while the Corona program was important to the reconnaissance missions of the Cold War, it also provided us with detailed pictures of the Earth and its terrain years before programs like Terra! Because these photos were taken in the 1960s and 1970s, they can be used to compare change in terrain over long periods of time by comparing them to images we take today.
Logging and gold dredging
This Corona satellite image shows a logging and gold dredging operation. What clues in the picture helped tell those analyzing it what has happening so that they could add the labels? How do you think these operations would affect the land around them?
Photo Credit: National Reconnaissance Office
Missile test site
This Corona satellite image shows a missile test site. What clues in this picture indicate that for image analyzers? How do you think these tests affected the land around them?
Photo Credit: National Reconnaissance Office
What can we see in these images that we couldn't see on Earth? What do these images tell us about the landscape they capture?
Because the Soviet Union was largely closed to the United States during the Cold War, images from space and from the sky through other photography missions were the only way American Intelligence officers could learn about Soviet missile production and testing. These photographs also showed the land around these sites, giving us clues to their impacts. For example, you can see in the photo above how earth has been displaced by the missile test or how the river has been affected by the dredging. These photos help us learn about humans impact the world around us and how that impact changes the terrain.